


Consequences of Befriending the Not-Yet-Dead

by rendawnie



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Beetlejuice Fusion, Bugs & Insects, Comedic Gore, Crushes, Danger, Fear, Friendship, Ghosts, Haunted Houses, Humor, Light Angst, M/M, Past Character Death, Phobias, Please read warnings in notes to stay safe!, Swearing, Triggers, can be read as either platonic or romantic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-02
Updated: 2018-11-02
Packaged: 2019-07-12 00:15:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15983522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rendawnie/pseuds/rendawnie
Summary: The scowl on Minhyuk’s face turns to a pout. “I’m not scary, am I?” he asks, a tinge of worry in his voice as his bottom lip juts out a bit petulantly.Rolling his eyes, Hyunwoo lets Minhyuk lay his head in his lap, petting his hair for him automatically. “No, Minnie. You’re not scary,” he replies placatingly. He stops to think for a moment, brow furrowed. “But, we’re dead. That’s scary as it is, to the live ones,” he reasons. “There’s got to be something else we can do for fun. Something less… malevolent.”Head still in Hyunwoo’s lap, Minhyuk lets out a long sigh. “Let me know if you find it.”





	Consequences of Befriending the Not-Yet-Dead

**Author's Note:**

  * For [yoo_kyun](https://archiveofourown.org/users/yoo_kyun/gifts).



> **WARNING!!**
> 
> This story features descriptions of phobias and fears that could be potentially triggering. Entomophobia (fear of insects, specifically roaches here) and fear of being swallowed up by/falling into holes in the ground or earth are both depicted. PLEASE stay safe, and do not read if you will be triggered by this!
> 
> *
> 
> To my recipient: I hope you don't mind the few small adjustments I made to your prompt! Please enjoy this xx

**Day 2**

Minhyuk trudges back down the basement steps sullenly, holding his decapitated head under one arm. Hyunwoo glances up from their newly acquired copy of _The Handbook for the Recently Deceased_ as he arrives, raising one eyebrow.

“How did it go?”

Minhyuk’s head scowls as he plunks it back onto his shoulders, twisting it into place carelessly. “It didn’t. The little hamster-lookin’ one can’t see me,” he mutters unhappily.

Hyunwoo chuckles, returning his attention to the book in his hands. “Why are you doing this, again?” he questions, even though he already knows the answer.

“ _Because I’m bored!_ ” Minhyuk wails, flopping down on the old couch next to his eternal, also-dead roommate. “Being dead _sucks,_ okay? It’s been twenty-five years and they’re the first people to move in since the remodel, and I just want to have some _fun._ ”

“You seem to find complaining fun,” Hyunwoo answers mildly, flipping the page.

Minhyuk scowls harder. “Shut up.”

Hyunwoo sighs, tossing the book to the side and running a hand through his hair. “Look, all I’m saying is, they’re the _first_ people to move in, in a _very_ long time. We’re the ghosts who _can’t_ move out, ever. Why try to scare good company off already?”

The scowl on Minhyuk’s face turns to a pout. “I’m not scary, am I?” he asks, a tinge of worry in his voice as his bottom lip juts out a bit petulantly.

Rolling his eyes, Hyunwoo lets Minhyuk lay his head in his lap, petting his hair for him automatically. “No, Minnie. You’re not scary,” he replies placatingly. He stops to think for a moment, brow furrowed. “But, we’re _dead._ That’s scary as it is, to the live ones,” he reasons. “There’s got to be something else we can do for fun. Something less… malevolent.”

Head still in Hyunwoo’s lap, Minhyuk lets out a long sigh. “Let me know if you find it.”

 

**Day 7**

Kihyun frowns, pushing his glasses up on his forehead and pushing himself away from his laptop.

“Jooheon! It’s two in the morning, dude! Some of us are trying to work, here!” Kihyun yells into the house at large, hoping Jooheon can even hear him from… wherever he is.

The banging he’s been hearing off and on for the last few hours continues, so he’s guessing his message didn’t carry quite far enough.

Kihyun gets up from his chair, yawning as he makes his way out of his study and into the dark hallway. He’s still getting used to the layout of their new/old house, and he runs right into a wall that he’s almost positive wasn’t there before as he tries to feel his way out of the hall and towards the great staircase.

Rubbing the rapidly forming knot on his head, Kihyun finally makes it into the living room, then to the stairs, and the banging isn’t letting up at all. He groans to himself. He loves his best friend and roommate, he does, but Jooheon’s “artist” mentality seems to know no bounds. Or normal sleeping schedules.

(Not that he was sleeping, either, but nevermind that.)

Kihyun takes the stairs two at a time, and just when he makes it to the top, he smashes into yet another object that wasn’t there last time he checked. This one’s a bit warmer and shakier. Kihyun can barely see his surroundings, but he’s assuming it’s Jooheon.

“ _There’s something in the house,_ ” Jooheon hisses a moment later, confirming Kihyun’s assumptions.

Kihyun is about to answer, about to unload onto Jooheon about how late it is and all the racket he’s making, but then he realizes something.

Jooheon’s standing right in front of him, practically wringing his hands and trembling in fear.

And the banging is still. Happening.

“What the fuck,” Kihyun grumbles, yanking his hand away from Jooheon’s as he tries desperately to hold onto it. Jooheon’s palms get extra sweaty when he’s freaked out, which is often. Kind of a scaredy-cat, really.

Kihyun sighs, turning around and leading the way back down the hall, but at least now he has the shaky flashlight of Jooheon’s phone shining over his head to help guide the way. “It’s probably just the furnace,” he mutters. “It’s an old house.”

Behind him, Jooheon swallows so loudly that their closest neighbors, nearly a mile away, probably hear it. “No. I _saw_ something.”

Kihyun rolls his eyes, jogging back down the stairs with Jooheon close behind. “Jooheon, there’s nothing here. It’s just the two of us. And maybe a stray raccoon or two,” he reasons, but he knows Jooheon well enough to know he won’t be convinced.

“ _It was a ghost_ ,” Jooheon whispers, because of course. Of course he believes in that sort of shit.

“No such thing,” Kihyun snaps back, and he tries to ignore the way the door to the basement creaks open an inch or two right after he says it, all on its own. Just the wind, he figures. They probably left a window open somewhere. Kihyun wonders if they didn’t bite off a bit more than they could chew, in buying this house. It was dirt cheap, something about a tragic, fatal fire in the not so distant past, and the subsequent stories from homebuyers thereafter about supposed hauntings. Strange occurrences. Just the kind of thing Jooheon both hates and loves, with an equal intensity.

He pushes the basement door open the rest of the way, shuffling down the smaller set of stairs and over to the furnace. The banging stopped right when they stepped inside the doorway, but Kihyun checks the unit out anyway. It seems to be in good condition, given its age. Definitely not making any noises it shouldn’t be, at least not anymore.

Taking a step back, Kihyun glances at Jooheon, shrugging. “Guess whatever was banging around stopped,” he concludes casually.

Jooheon’s jaw drops. “And that’s _it_??” he practically screeches. “You’re just… you’re just _satisfied_ with that??”

Kihyun rolls his eyes, patting Jooheon on the cheek, making his best friend groan in annoyance. “Yeah. I’m satisfied with that,” he says, turning to head back into the main part of the house.

Jooheon hangs back, frowning a little. He squints into every dark corner of the basement, waving his flashlight from side to side, perhaps a bit more manically than he’s aware of.

It’s probably just his imagination, but he thinks he sees a pair of eyes, attached to a transparent body, darting away from the harsh glow of his flashlight.

" _Jooheon. Let’s go,_ ” Kihyun intones from halfway up the stairs.

Jooheon sighs, giving up. He takes one last look into the pitch black, and then he turns to leave.

*

Minyhuk presses himself further against the wall, Hyunwoo’s giant hand clapped over his mouth to keep him quiet. He’s glad he doesn’t have to breathe anymore, because he’s positive it would be loud, erratic and inconvenient right now. He watches Jooheon and Kihyun leave with wide eyes, and when Hyunwoo’s sure they’re gone, he finally takes his palm off Minhyuk’s lips and lets out a disgusted moan, tossing the two discarded lengths of pipe he’d been tasked to bang together to the floor with a clatter.

“That… was not fun,” he announces after a while.

Minhyuk slides to the floor in a heap, still in shock. “He saw me,” he says, amazement in his voice.

Hyunwoo blinks. “What?”

“Jooheon,” Minhyuk says, not bothering to keep the exhilaration out of his voice. “He saw me!”

Hyunwoo frowns. “Dimples?”

Minhyuk lets out a sharp laugh. “Yeah.”

“Huh,” Hyunwoo grunts, laying back on the couch. “Make sure he doesn’t see you again, okay?”

Minhyuk lets the pot lids he’s been holding slip from his hands, smiling to himself. “Yeah. Totally.”

“Never again.”

 

**Day 11**

It’s well into the afternoon by the time Jooheon wakes up, sunlight streaming in his window and birds chirping in the trees right outside. He huffs out a groan of displeasure, tumbling out of bed and stumbling over to the window, one eye still shut as he tries to get the curtains closed as best he can. It works well enough after the third try, the light has been cut roughly in half. He’ll take it.

After a long, hot shower, Jooheon feels more awake, at least. He’s got both eyes open and a whistle between his lips as he steps out onto the bathmat, slinging a towel around his waist and heading over to the sink to brush his teeth.

He gives himself a quick once-over in the mirror. _Not bad,_ he thinks proudly. All those workouts with Hoseok are starting to pay off.

Jooheon lowers his head to spit into the sink after a while, and when he lifts it back up again, eyes floating back to the mirror, the word _HI!_ is drawn into the fogged up glass, with a big smiley face underneath.

*

Jooheon’s shriek echoes all the way down to the basement.

Hyunwoo gazes up at the ceiling, the handbook in his lap. It’s only another second or two before Minhyuk floats down the steps. He only floats when he’s in too big of a hurry to actually run, Hyunwoo knows. It makes him feel less human, more ghost-y.

Hyunwoo stares at Minhyuk suspiciously as his forever-roommate tries to hide the shit-eating grin on his face, floating around the basement at top speed like he’s trying to expend the remainder of his nervous energy.

“I thought I said to make sure he doesn’t see you again,” Hyunwoo comments dryly, watching Minhyuk zoom around.

He comes to a halt right in front of Hyunwoo, still grinning. “He didn’t see me.”

Hyunwoo sighs.

 

**Day 16**

“I think I want waffles for breakfast tomorrow,” Jooheon says.

Kihyun grunts and goes back to his emails.

 

**Day 17**

Jooheon stares at the giant plate of steaming hot waffles on the kitchen counter, mouth open in shock. Kihyun’s at work, has been for hours. Only Jooheon _actually_ works from home, although Kihyun tends to work most of the time he's here, too.

Only Jooheon’s actually _home,_ right now. He’s sure of it.

He gets out his phone with trembling hands, navigating to his text conversation with Kihyun.

 

_Dude… did you make me waffles before you left?_

 

Jooheon presses send, and then he eyes the phone in his hand like it’s a ticking bomb until Kihyun replies.

 

_You drink too much, Jooheon._

 

Involuntarily, Jooheon lets out a panicked little yelp, tossing his phone onto the counter alongside the waffles like it’s scalded him.

He backs up a few steps, narrowing his eyes at the large plate. Inspecting it for inconsistencies, or like… ghosts, maybe. Waffle ghosts. Hiding in these waffles that seemingly, no one made.

Finally, his hunger overwhelms his sense of disaster urgency, and Jooheon plucks one of the waffles off the top of the stack and shoves it in his mouth all at once. He nearly groans at the taste of it, perfect and sweet and buttery all at the same time. It takes two more waffles for Jooheon to realize that he could get a real plate down, and have a whole helping of them, with syrup and even more butter, and so he does.

He’s too besotted by his breakfast to notice the ghost peeking around the doorway of the kitchen with a little smile, blushing as much as he’s capable of in his non-corporeal state.

 

**Day 25**

Hyunwoo shuts _The Handbook for the Recently Deceased_ with as loud of a slam as he can, startling Minhyuk out of his daydreaming, on the floor near his feet.

“We need to talk,” Hyunwoo announces sternly, staring Minhyuk down with his best Ghost Dad glare.

“Hmm?” Minhyuk responds faintly, blinking up at Hyunwoo expectantly.

Hyunwoo steadies himself. He doesn’t like confrontation, and he’s especially dreading the idea of confronting the only company he’s got for the forseeable future, but it’s got to be done.

“I’ve been reading more of this handbook,” Hyunwoo says, waving the closed book at Minhyuk with one hand, “and I’ve learned some things.”

Minhyuk sits up, interest in his eyes. “Oh? Like what?”

Hyunwoo knows what he wants. He wants to be told that his completely obvious crush on Jooheon is just fine, that it won’t hurt anybody, that it won’t cause any trouble at all. But…

“You have to stop doing nice things for Jooheon,” Hyunwoo tells Minhyuk firmly. “The book says so.”

Minhyuk frowns. “What? How is that possible? Since when is being nice a bad thing?” he asks, sounding hurt and confused, and _god,_ Hyunwoo actually hates this, he hates upsetting Minhyuk, but he’s got to.

He flips the book open to the sixth chapter, turning it to face Minhyuk.

“ _What Not to Do When You’ve Got Company,_ ” Minhyuk reads in a monotone, and then he gazes back up at Hyunwoo with those wide puppy dog eyes.

Hyunwoo ignores it for the time being, as best he can. Instead, he looks down at the book, clearing his throat.

“It is perhaps tempting, when the living take up residence in your forever home, to be polite hosts,” Hyunwoo reads carefully, following the words with one finger. “However, take caution: overstepping the boundaries of the dead can only lead to confusion and consternation on both sides of the veil.”

Minhyuk pulls his knees up to his chest, resting his chin on them, but he doesn’t say anything yet, so Hyunwoo continues.

“Take special care not to develop any emotional attachment to the living. This violates The Code of the Dead, Article Forty-Seven.” Hyunwoo keeps his current page dog-eared while he flips to the back of the book, which, he’s discovered, contains the complete Code in question.

“Article Forty-Seven,” he recites. “Consequences of Befriending The Not-Yet-Dead.”

Minhyuk is still silent. Hyunwoo glances at him briefly, for just long enough to see that he’s not looking at Hyunwoo anymore. He’s staring at the floor underneath his feet, a frown on his face, but Hyunwoo knows he’s listening. Probably.

“The repercussions and ramifications of forming attachments to any visitors currently residing in your domicile can be severe. They may include the following: expulsion from the domicile, loss of ghostly privileges (up to and including permanent residency elsewhere), or, in extreme cases, _vaporization._ ”

Minyhuk’s head darts up suddenly. “Vaporization?? What the hell does  _that_ mean?”

Hyunwoo clicks his tongue, switching to yet another section of the handbook, the glossary. “I’m glad you asked, Minhyuk,” he says, scanning the page until he finds what he’s looking for.

“Vaporization. The act of dissociating the ghostly spirit from its non-corporeal existence.”

MInhyuk frowns harder. “Meaning…”

Hyunwoo sighs, shutting the book and regarding Minhyuk seriously. “It means you don’t exist anymore. Not in this house, not on this earth, not _anywhere_.”

Minhyuk looks like he wants to cry, but he can’t. Ghosts don’t cry.

“So, I have to…”

“Go back to scaring Jooheon and Kihyun…” Hyunwoo provides.

“Go back to scaring them, or else?” Minhyuk says softly.

Hyunwoo’s mouth sets itself in a hard line. “Or else.”

 

**Day 27**

Kihyun is screaming.

More like bellowing, actually. Yelling, even, and yelling so loud that it wakes Jooheon from a deep sleep. He throws himself out of bed as fast as he can, racing out of his room and down the hall to where Kihyun slept.

The door’s locked, because even though they’ve been best friends for years and roommates in more than one apartment and at least one other house before this, Kihyun still has weird privacy issues.

Jooheon bangs on the door quick and hard, shouting through the heavy wood as he does it.

“Kihyun!! Ki, are you okay?? What’s going on?!” Jooheon yells desperately, because he can hear Kihyun starting to sob a little hysterically now. Frantically, Jooheon looks up and down the hall for anything he can break the door down with, if necessary. He’s just about to run a few steps away and grab a crowbar that’s leaning against the wall for some reason Jooheon doesn’t have time to entertain at the moment, when suddenly, he hears the door unlock and creak open just a bit.

Whirling back around, Jooheon barges into Kihyun’s room breathlessly, absolutely petrified of what he’s going to find, but overwhelmed with the need to make sure his best friend is okay. It’s ingrained in his system, has been for years.

Jooheon’s staring at the floor when he bursts into the room, if only to give himself a few seconds worth of preparation for whatever he’s going to see when he raises his eyes. He takes a deep breath, and then Jooheon looks up.

Kihyun’s standing on his bed in his pajamas, sobbing, arms wrapped around himself, staring at something that seems to be in Jooheon’s direction.

Jooheon doesn’t see anything.

He leaves the door open, stepping into the room a bit more. “Ki--”

“Stop! Stop moving. You’ll fall in!” Kihyun shrieks desperately, holding one hand out in front of him. Jooheon can see it shaking from across the room.

He blinks, glancing at the floor. It’s the same old wood it has been since they moved in nearly a month ago. Nothing he’s going to fall into, unless Kihyun knows something he doesn’t.

“Ki,” Jooheon tries again, “what’s going on?”

Kihyun lets out another broken sniffle, and as Jooheon watches, his eyes seem to roll back in his head briefly before they return to normal, his eyelashes fluttering rapidly as tears roll down his face. Jooheon keeps watching, rooted to his spot with confusion and worry, and finally, Kihyun crumbles back down onto his bed, head in his hands as he tries to get himself together.

Gulping, Jooheon crosses the room after another pause, sliding on the bed next to Kihyun. His roommate isn’t normally an outwardly demonstrative person as far as affection goes, but he curls into Jooheon’s arms immediately, pressing his warm face into Jooheon’s t-shirt as he shivers helplessly. Jooheon has no idea what to do, but rubbing his arm soothingly seems like the right thing, even as his mind’s racing, trying to figure out what the _fuck’s_ going on.

After a while, Kihyun mumbles something against Jooheon’s chest, and Jooheon puts some space between them, still keeping a hold on Kihyun so he knows Jooheon’s there. That he isn't going anywhere. “Hmm?” Jooheon prods carefully, and Kihyun takes a deep, ragged breath.

“There was a hole,” he repeats, staring blankly into the center of his room.

Jooheon’s mind goes blank. “A… hole?” he asks, just to make sure he’s heard correctly.

Kihyun nods. “I was asleep, and then I heard sounds, like, it sounded like the floor was crumbling and splitting in two and when I opened my eyes there was a hole with green light glowing out of it and I heard growling in there, Jooheon. I heard it.”

Jooheon winces. Kihyun’s always had a fear of falling into caverns, manholes, sewers, grates, and yes, even the earth opening up and swallowing him whole has come up before, more than once.

“It was a nightmare, Ki,” Jooheon says, trying to keep his voice low and soothing. “I saw you wake up, I promise. There’s no hole.” He hugs his friend tighter. “It wasn’t real.”

Kihyun sighs, sniffling again. “Fuck. Yeah, you’re right. It’s just been a while since I had one, I guess,” he says, voice still strained from screaming.

“Yeah,” Jooheon agrees. He glances at the door, still open, then back at Kihyun. “How about I sleep in here tonight, okay? We’ll keep the door open for once,” he suggests gently. He expects Kihyun to argue, especially about the door, but he doesn’t say a word. He just lays down in bed wearily, curling into a ball and tugging on Jooheon’s hand until he ends up being the big spoon.

Kihyun’s asleep within twenty minutes. Jooheon stays awake far longer, staring into the dark of the room. Wondering if the two eyes he’d seen before would gaze back.

*

Minhyuk flops down on the basement couch, folding in on himself, facing away from Hyunwoo.

Hyunwoo knows better than to start the conversation. He’d heard Kihyun’s screams.

It takes a few minutes before Minhyuk says anything, but when he does, his voice is quiet. Almost _ashamed._

“There, I did it. Are you happy, Satan?” he scoffs out.

Hyunwoo sighs. “No, not really. We just have to get through it, Minnie,” he says, trying to sound at least a little positive, but he knows he’s failed, mostly.

“Whatever,” Minhyuk mutters.

Hyunwoo wishes the dead could sleep. He could really use a nap. Maybe just for forty or fifty years.

 

**Day 29**

“It’s just a few bugs, Minnie. Some little creepy-crawlies. He’ll be okay,” Hyunwoo mutters, leading the way up to Jooheon’s studio. Minhyuk follows behind slower, arms crossed over his chest. He doesn’t want to do this. He _can’t_ do it, so Hyunwoo is doing it. And yet, Minhyuk had insisted on coming with him. It’s not out of any sadistic need to see Jooheon scared (again). He just… he wants to _protect_ him, if necessary. He knows he isn’t supposed to. His brain knows that. But, his heart? That’s a whole other story.

Unlike Kihyun, Jooheon always leaves the door of his studio open when he’s working. Minhyuk likes to watch him sometimes, watch him lovingly mold clay into beautiful sculptures with just his hands. Watch him create something beautiful out of something ugly. Minhyuk wishes he could do that, in his own afterlife.

Hyunwoo stands to one side of the open door, and Minhyuk to the other. Their eyes meet for the briefest moment, then Minhyuk has to look away. Hyunwoo looks resigned and determined all at once, and he knows there’s no changing his mind.

He’s still not looking when the air around them goes colder, but then Minhyuk hears Jooheon gasp out a _whatthefuck,_ and he peeks, against his better judgment.

Jooheon’s chair scrapes across the floor quietly as he scoots back, wet clay dripping from his fingertips. The half-finished sculpture’s cracking at the back, rather than the front, so Minhyuk’s treated to a unhindered view of what’s happening. Roaches, big and fat and black and mindless, are pouring out of the slowly opening crack, scurrying up and down and all over Jooheon’s work of art, but Minhyuk isn’t really focused on them. He’s staring sadly at Jooheon, instead.

Jooheon’s eyes are going wider and wider, jaw dropping, and Minhyuk thought he’d be screaming by now, but it’s worse than that. Minhyuk watches him, and he thinks Jooheon _can’t_ scream. He watches as Jooheon falls off of his chair, mouth agape in silent horror, scooting backwards across the floor as he tries to get away from the onslaught. Minhyuk frowns. Something feels off about this, something more than just his generalized guilt about being forced to scare the shit out of someone he’s not supposed to care about, as much as he does.

Minhyuk keeps watching, and he sees the moment on Jooheon’s face, the moment where it turns from panic to uninhibited _terror,_ and then he knows.

He knows before tears start rolling down Jooheon’s face and he lets out not a scream, not a bloodcurdling shriek, but a series of strangled _whimpers,_ that they’ve gone too far. They’ve hit a nerve that should never have been hit.

“Hyunwoo, stop,” Minhyuk hisses, swatting at Hyunwoo’s arm desperately. He’s standing there with his eyes closed, concentrating on getting through this, but when he feels Minhyuk’s hand connect with his arm, Hyunwoo frowns.

“It’s almost done, Minnie,” Hyunwoo whispers.

“He’s _really scared,_ ” Minhyuk insists, one hand coming up as if to reach out and help somehow, followed by one foot stepping into the room then moving back to its place, over and over and useless and more useless.

Jooheon’s made it to the corner of his studio, knees pulled up to his chest and head buried in his arms, and Minhyuk can hear him sobbing and it’s too much, it was too much to begin with and he doesn’t want this, and--

“Minhyuk, get back here!” Hyunwoo yells, and that’s when Minhyuk realizes he’s halfway into the studio, consumed with a need to do whatever he can to make Jooheon okay again. He ignores Hyunwoo, until he hears a sigh behind him, from the doorway, and then the insects that have piled up and filled every inch of the studio all disappear, and so does Hyunwoo.

Minhyuk swallows hard, rushing the rest of the way over to Jooheon and crouching next to him. “Hey,” he says softly, trying to sound soothing. “Hey, it’s okay.”

Jooheon’s head jerks up, and his tear-filled, fear-filled eyes go even wider when he sees Minhyuk for the first time, really _sees_ him. More than just flashes of white and cold as Minhyuk floats away. Minhyuk keeps very still, blinking at Jooheon, and Jooheon blinks at him, and neither of them say anything for a long while.

*

“We died in this house,” Minhyuk tells Jooheon, letting their shoulders rub together for a brief second. If he concentrates hard enough, he can make it work just a little, just for a moment, before it’s too much and he goes transparent again.

Jooheon wipes his eyes. “What happened?” he asks. Minhyuk’s glad he seems less scared of the concept of ghosts. He tries not to think about how maybe it’s because he was just confronted with something a thousand times scarier, for him.

“Electrical fire,” Minhyuk sighs, staring at the wall of Jooheon’s studio. “Hyunwoo’s family rented us this house, after we graduated from college. We’d only been living here for a few months. Hyunwoo was asleep, and he sleeps like the dead.” Minhyuk pauses, letting out a short chuckle at his own unintentional humor. “I was outside, messing around in the backyard. I tried to go back in and get him, but… neither of us made it out,” he finishes, trying to make it sound more okay than it is.

Jooheon sniffles, gazing at Minhyuk so earnestly that it would make Minhyuk blush, if he was able. “And now you’re here.”

Minhyuk nods. “And now we’re here, forever, I guess,” he asserts. “It’s been twenty-five years, and this handbook just appeared in the basement when you guys came…” he pauses, waving a hand in front of his body, and _The Handbook for the Recently Deceased_ appears between his fingers. “It says making friends with new occupants is bad. It could be bad for everyone,” Minhyuk says, frowning. He thumps the book into Jooheon’s waiting hand, and he doesn’t know why he’s surprised that it’s actually a _real_ book, that Jooheon can hold it and flip through it just as well as Minhyuk and Hyunwoo. 

He shows Jooheon all the parts that Hyunwoo dressed him down with, all the parts that make his feelings bad and dangerous. Jooheon reads quietly, flipping back and forth between sections, and Minhyuk nearly loses himself, just watching him. Jooheon is beautiful, he thinks, in a strange way. A way that makes him ache, that makes him want something more than they can ever have.

“I’m sorry,” Minhyuk murmurs softly, eyes burning into the side of Jooheon’s face. “We didn’t mean to scare you that much.”

A frown tugs at the corner of Jooheon’s mouth as he reads, and he shrugs a little. “S’okay. I just have a bug thing,” he says with a feigned lightness, and Minhyuk can tell there’s a bigger story there, but he doesn’t make Jooheon tell it. He slips the information into his head and hopes it’ll stick.

They sit quietly for a while longer, until Jooheon surprises Minhyuk out of his thoughts with a jab of his finger on the page in front of him, and a spirited little “A- _ha!_ ”

Minhyuk blinks several times, focusing his eyes on the page after a moment. He trains them down, until they meet Jooheon’s finger, and then he reads.

“There may yet be a way of safely befriending the visitors in your eternal home, without fear of consequence or punishment,” Minhyuk reads aloud, trying to ignore the way his nonexistent heart swells with hope at the idea.

“If the visitors in question should be convinced on their own to move out, all scare tactics having been exhausted, and if the visitors in question are able to recruit new visitors to take over occupation of the domicile, then, the original visitors are free to come and go as they please, and will be able to see and interact with any Recently Deceased as they see fit, and within the parameters of physical reality.”

 _God,_ this book exhausts Minhyuk. Who even _talks_ like this??

Minhyuk sighs. “Translate?” he begs Jooheon.

Jooheon giggles a little fondly, smiling at Minhyuk. “It basically means that if we move out, and we can get new people to move _in,_ we could be okay. We’d still be able to hang out, if I came over sometime to visit.”

Minhyuk’s mouth opens into a small _O,_ his eyes widening. “Do you think you could get Kihyun to move out?” he asks. “I know he doesn’t believe in all of this. He doesn’t believe in _us,_ ” Minhyuk says, and surprisingly, the words don’t make him sad anymore. The thought of one person not believing in his mostly dead existence is okay, as long as Jooheon does, Minhyuk thinks.

Jooheon laughs. “Ki may not believe in ghosts, but he knows something’s off in this house,” he says matter-of-factly. “I doubt it’ll be too hard to convince him to find somewhere else to live.”

“Somewhere not too far away,” Minhyuk prompts, and Jooheon hums, nodding.

Minhyuk thinks some more. “And do you know anyone who’d be willing to move in? Anyone who…” He swallows hard, half-worried and half-regretful at the knowledge of what he and Hyunwoo are doomed to keep doing for the rest of their ghostly existence. “...who doesn’t mind being scared?”

Jooheon thinks for a moment, then he starts to smile. “Yeah. I think I do.”

 

**Day 43**

The real estate agent pushes her glasses down her nose as she sits in the study of the house, signed contract in front of her. She stares in disbelief at the young couple on the other side of the desk. “And you’re _sure_ you’re okay with living in this house? Even with all the disclaimers and information I’ve just provided you?”

The more gregarious of of the two young men nods enthusiastically, squeezing his quieter boyfriend’s hand. “Absolutely. Hyungwon and I are just so excited to be here. We’ve been waiting for an opportunity like this for a long time.”

Across the large oak desk, the real estate agent scoffs, still mildly mystified by the whole situation. “Your friends moved out, broke their lease agreement, because they found this house to be uninhabitable, Mr. Lim.”

Changkyun’s eyes flick up to the pair of ghosts hovering above the couch in the corner of the room, then back to the agent. Giving her a warm smile, he chooses his words carefully.

“It won’t be a problem, I assure you. You see, Hyungwon and I?" Changkyun starts smoothly, gazing at his boyfriend for a moment before he glances away.

"We don’t believe in ghosts,” he finishes, winking at Minhyuk with a sparkle in his eye.


End file.
